Lamb, a 22-year-old shooting guard in his second NBA season, suffered a sprained right ankle in early October and didn't play in a game until Nov. 13.

When he has played, he typically has played sparingly.

His performance Wednesday arguably was his best performance since the Magic acquired him, Tobias Harris and Beno Udrih from the Milwaukee Bucks for J.J. Redick, Gustavo Ayón and Ish Smith on Feb. 21, 2013.

"He came into the game and what he did, he was aggressive," Magic coach Jacque Vaughn said. "He ended up fouling out, but I think a lot of his fouls were [him] trying to do the right thing, playing with an aggression. He made shots. That always helps."

Harkless' effective gameHarkless also played effectively against the Hawks, scoring 12 points on 4-of-5 shooting and collecting three rebounds.

"I don't know how much I'm going to play, so when I'm out there, I'm just going to take advantage of whatever minutes I get," Harkless.

"At the end of the day, we lost, so I'm not happy about it. But to come back [as a team] was a great feeling, just being out there playing with those guys and then just bringing energy. I feel like that's something we can do every night."

Still outThe Magic's official injury report for Friday night's game against the Los Angeles Lakers at Amway Center lists center Nik Vucevic and guard Ronnie Price as unavailable to play.

Vucevic has missed Orlando's last nine games because of a concussion. Price has missed the last four games because of a sprained right foot.

All-Star campaigningThe Eastern Conference and Western Conference reserves for the All-Star Game will be announced on Jan. 30, and shooting guard Arron Afflalo is the Magic's only legitimate candidate to make the East squad.

Afflalo is averaging a team-best 20.2 points per game, has made 42.3 percent of his 3-point attempts and is averaging 4.5 rebounds and 3.8 assists per game.

Asked if he'll talk to coaches to tell them how effective Afflalo has been, Vaughn said, "My kids won't be making posters, but me talking to other coaches throughout the year and just emphasizing how good Arron has been [will happen]. I believe in the knowledge of the coaches. They understand the league and who's playing well and who's trying to play well and statistically where Arron matches up."

jbrobbins@tribune.com. Read his blog at OrlandoSentinel.com/magicblog and follow him on Twitter at @JoshuaBRobbins.

The Orlando Magic played one of their best 12-minute stretches of the entire season Wednesday night. From the final minute or so of the third quarter until the final minute or so of the fourth, a group primarily made up of youngsters Tobias Harris, Maurice Harkless, Doron Lamb, Victor Oladipo...